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OAS Members Debate Drug Policy in Lima

  June 25, 2012

The countries of the Organization of American States (OAS) will meet on Tuesday in Lima, as a part of a global meeting convened by the Peruvian government to discuss the foundations of a report on drug strategies implemented to date in the region.

The meeting will be held at the JW Marriott Hotel Lima, at 16:30 local time (20:30 GMT), after the conclusion of the "International Conference of Foreign Ministers and Heads of Specialized Agencies against the World Drug Problem" that the government of Peru is organizing in the same city and which will include delegates from 70 countries on five continents.

Among the topics to be discussed at the meeting organized by the OAS include the relationship of drugs with public health and economic and social development; security strategies and how to control organized crime, including its financial structure; the outlook for the production of drugs, pharmaceuticals, chemicals; and the legal regulation and administrative framework in combating this problem.

The Secretary for Multidimensional Security of the OAS, Ambassador Adam Blackwell, and the Executive Secretary of the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD), Ambassador Paul Simons, are the main representatives of the hemispheric organization at the summit in the Peruvian capital. Secretary General José Miguel Insulza was forced to suspend his trip to Lima due to a special session of the OAS Permanent Council in Washington to discuss the situation in Paraguay.

The Presidents and heads of government of the hemisphere agreed in April at the Sixth Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia, to instruct the OAS to prepare a report on the drug problem in the region. The study will analyze the results of current drug policies in the hemisphere and explore new approaches to more effectively respond to this issue.

The study, under the supervision of the OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza, will be prepared by the CICAD Executive Secretariat. The General Secretariat will establish the plan and timeline and will work in cooperation with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), and the Development Bank of Latin America.

Para más información, visite la Web de la OEA en www.oas.org

Reference: E-231/12